9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

2232. That “sons” are those who are in truths, is evident from the signification of a “son” in the Word as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147). By “sons” in the abstract sense are signified truths; but as applied to man, “sons” denote all those who are in truths.

1794. What wilt Thou give me, and I am walking childless? That this signifies that there is no internal church, may be seen from the signification of “walking childless.” To “walk,” in the internal sense, is to live (as before shown, n. 519); but one who is childless is one who has no seed, or no posterity of his own. This is treated of in the following verses (3-5), where it is explained what is meant by one who is childless, or one who has no seed.